Dale Mahan

Ronnie Mahan and his brother Dale were convicted in Alabama for the 1983 abduction and rape of a young woman. The victim was taken from a shopping mall, taken to the woods, forced to use drugs, and raped several times.

The victim later identified the brothers from a photo lineup, having gotten a look at the perpetrators when they had lifted their masks. Based largely on her identification, Ronnie and Dale Mahan were convicted in 1984. Ronnie was sentenced to life without parole and Dale to thirty-five years in prison. At trial, the prosecution contended that Dale Mahan raped the victim while Ronnie watched.

The Mahans gained access to the biological evidence in 1998. Swabs from the rape kit were tested and excluded both brothers, the victim's husband, and another man named as a possible contributor. Examination of pubic hairs collected also excluded the Mahan brothers.

The prosecution moved for dismissal of charges against the brothers in December 1998. Ronnie and Dale Mahan were released the same month, each having spent over eleven years in prison.

About the Registry

The National Registry of Exonerations is a project of the Newkirk Center for Science & Society at University of California Irvine, the University of Michigan Law School and Michigan State University College of Law. It was founded in 2012 in conjunction with the Center on Wrongful Convictions at Northwestern University School of Law. The Registry provides detailed information about every known exoneration in the United States since 1989—cases in which a person was wrongly convicted of a crime and later cleared of all the charges based on new evidence of innocence.

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